314 TEAK PLANTATIONS. 



hard shell was, after much delay and frequent failures, at length 

 overcome by steeping them in boiling water, so as to produce the 

 same effect by the heat so generated as the constant fires in the 

 jungle do on the seeds which there germinate. By this process 

 the plants spring rapidly from the seed-bed, and when three 

 months old they are transplanted, holes are dug in the ground, 

 and the soil is trenched 12 inches deep, at intervals of 8 feet, 

 so as to give air to the plants, and little opposition to their tap- 

 roots (in their delicate state after transplanting) in their down- 

 ward search for food. I may observe, that the future prosperity 

 of the teak plantations depends upon the soil selected being of 

 that quality and in that situation in which nature has ordained 

 that the tree shall thrive, so as to provide it with sufficient 

 nourishment and with a suitable exposure. On these circum- 

 stances will chiefly depend the close grain of the timber and its 

 durability when exposed to varieties of climate : these will also 

 prevent the canker of the heart of the tree, which is sure to 

 follow if the tap-root penetrates soil not suited to its wants. 



" After minute inspection of the plants of different ages in the 

 plantations, and of all the arrangements connected with them, I 

 was so much struck with the efficiency and ability which marked 

 all the operations, that it appeared to me that the director of 

 the undertaking must either have had practical experience as a 

 nurseryman, or that he possessed a mind so constituted that 

 he could select from the mass of information written on the 

 planting and management of forests from time to time, such as 

 was necessary to carry on the work in a practical and satisfactory 

 manner. The latter I found to be the case ; and I can assure the 

 Honourable Court, that their expression of confidence in Mr 

 Gonolly's exertions for establishing a good system of manage- 

 ment in the teak forests, as far as the plantations are now 

 advanced, is well merited. 1 have had much experience in 

 plantations and woods on my own account at home, as well as in 

 those of other proprietors, but I never saw a better commence- 

 ment than in the Government teak plantations of Malabar. 



"The proximity to water-carriage, the gradual clearing of 

 jungle towards the interior for security to health, and to prepare 

 for extending the plantations into the interior; the education of 



